Hello, and welcome to the Ringside View. This issue, we will be looking at the unsung heroes of professional wrestling. The men and women who helped pave the way for some of the biggest stars of yesteryear. Superstars who are ridiculed in wrestling circles despite the feats they accomplish. The Jobbers.

Back in the 60s and 70s, the WWWF/WWF was said to be carried by the one headlining champion, be it Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales or Bob Backlund. But some people have said those champions always needed worthy opponents to succeed. Monsters like Gorilla Monsoon, Bruiser Brody or Iron Sheik always played a massive role in getting the paying audience into the building. The storyline (they only had one in these simpler times) was easy. A monster from another territory would come in under the management of Lou Albano, Fred Blassie or The Grand Wizard and destroy everyone in his way. This gave him an aura as an unstoppable machine destined for the world champion. Eventually the world champion would accept the challenge for his world title. Think Vladmir Koslov, but with some character which makes you care about them. Of course this led to the preliminary talent rising to centre stage, making sure the new heel looked like a real killer. Men like S.D. Jones and Dominic DeNucci at one time had tag runs or were solid mid-carders, but turned into jobbers for the sake of the main event. And they did a damn good job too.

In the 80s, WWF seem to hire wrestlers with the intention to turn them into jobbers without a run in the mid-card. Men like Iron Mike Sharpe and Leaping Lanny Poffo never won a match during their time on WWF Superstars. While others were given pushes at the start but failed to make it work. The Brooklyn Brawler was meant to be a minor player in the Heenan Family, until he found a gift at looking to the lights. Whatever their origins their goal was the same; to make the cartoon figures like Akeem, George ‘The Animal’ Steele and Kamala, look like real competition. Their mission wasn’t necessarily to promote the next monster challenge to Hulk Hogan but to build a solid WWF undercard as well. With out the use of territories (WWF killed them all) or using the past achievements of wrestlers (WWF believed it to be so dominant, it wouldn’t demean itself by mentioning lesser products) jobbers made the fans care about superstars by their ringcraft. The jobbers would be squashed on WWF television as commentators would reference the next big pay per view or big event with a run down of all the matches. Meanwhile, Jim Crockett Promotions/ NWA/ WCW had their own jobbers to help build up superstars. Men like Rip Rogers and Brad Armstrong. Again these jobbers were designed to make monsters look totally dominant with great effect. Sid Viscous’ rise to fame started by the jobbers making him look psychotic. Of course jobbers suffered for their art. Big Van Vader broke Joe Thurman’s back during a very rough handicap match back in 91.

Main stay jobbers continued into the 90s. Mike Sharpe and Rip Rogers were replaced by P.J. Walker (later known as Justin Credible in ECW) and Barry Horowitz. However, these men were rewarded for their labour. Barry Horowitz was given several wins over Body Donna Skip (Chris Candido), including one on Summerslam pay per view. Meanwhile, P.J. was given a new look to rock the world. Aldo Montoya. But sadly, fashion ineptitude was not a successful gimmick and he soon rejoined the world of jobbers. However, by the late 90s the Monday Night War was in full swing. Vince McMahon couldn’t really afford to waste precious television time on squash matches. The jobber became an endangered species. Eric Bischoff meanwhile decided to use jobbers as big figures. The former Virgil (reduced to jobber after his feud with Ted DiBiase died out) was brought in as Vincent and a high powered member of the NWO. Paul Roma, a glorified jobber from the 80s was given the role as Tully Blanchard’s replacement in the new Four Horsemen. WCW also gave these jobbers an obscene amount of money, once again showing how incompetent management actually was.

With WCW out of business, Vince bought most of the undercard talent for the contrived Invasion angle. After that failed to arouse any real interest from fans (due to how poorly booked it was) many acquisitions played the role of jobber. Hugh Morrus, Lance Storm and Mike Awesome once had a lot of potential, but were reduced to jobbing most weekends on Heat and Velocity. Today, most of the jobbers WWE used are either failed gimmicks (Paul Burchill, Val Venis and Funaki) or outside independent wrestlers (Robbie Brookside, Joey Ryan and Jimmy Jacobs being memorable jobbers). Of course WWE still insist in being kind to this wave of jobbers. Last week, James Mason was given a win over MVP and rebuilt Funaki as Kung Fu Naki complete with winning streak and dance offs.

Jobbers like the Brooklyn Brawler are often overlooked in terms of skill and talent, due to the lack of titles or victories. But the fact is, being a jobber isn’t necessarily a stigma to a wrestler. Sure, they won’t earn millions of dollars on merchandise, nor will they have the prestige of holding a major title. But the truth is, a jobber’s role is to take all kinds of wrestler and make them look great. Meaning that the jobber must have the skill to make anyone look like a million dollars. To be put in that role means the promoter must really believe in your ability, and that’s just as flattering as holding a secondary title. Plus it’s not all doom and gloom. Many casual wrestling fans still know the names Aldo Montoya and Dwayne ‘Gillberg’ Gill over pushed mid-card superstars such as Dan Severn, Test or the Headbangers. So, is it really bad to be a jobber?